CHAPTER 3. Captured by the unknown men.

As I ran back to my abode with a heavy heart, the thoughts of what surrounded me seemed to overwhelm me. It felt like there was a big eye which was watching all my movements. 

"Run... Run... Run...!" My inner wolf growled from the inside, and I melted down in fear. This was just the second time that my wolf had ever spoken to me. 

At some point, I had even doubted if I was really a werewolf. Just as I made to sneak back into my room, I had some malicious whispers across the woods, and I immediately tiptoed towards that direction to hear the conversation.

"She has to be eliminated. The curse that comes with her rejection is quite heavy." I heard the voice of my step mother, Lady Tati, speaking to someone I couldn't easily detect. 

"Yes, she has to be erased. She is a symbol of desecration to our land." The voice spoke with an evil tone. 

As the cold breeze of the night shook the branches of the surrounding trees, so did my hands shake in fear. At that instant, Akira's words returned back to my subconscious mind.

"I have prepared the leaf of death..." Lady Tati, began. "She must die by tomorrow!" 

In fear of what I had just heard, I mistakenly tripped on a dried stick.

Suddenly, the entire atmosphere was overwhelmed with silence. 

"I smell a scent... That of an unfamiliar wolf..." The other woman spoke, and I slowly turned my back, as I disappeared into the comfort of the night. I couldn't risk being caught by them.

As I got back to my room, I reached for the pocket journal that my mother had left for me. I picked up my marking veil, my short sword, my battle dagger, my magic chalk, my elephant trunk for drinking water, and a the ancestral map which was given to my dead mother by grandmother. 

Swiftly, I packed everything into my cotton fabric bag, and walked out of the room with a determined demeanor. 

It was time to rewrite my destiny.

As I slowly walked through the lonely bushes, I was careful to avoid tripping and falling, or even encountering rival wolves. The darkness of the night also made me weary of the witches that lurked around. 

However, my magic chalk will serve as a shield should in case encounter one. 

Soon, I got to the my best friend's abode. It was the last house before the black river, which was a bridge between my city and another neighboring village. 

As I walked into their compound, I was quite careful to avoid bumping into her father. An elderly chief priest of the pack, who I was so sure would be perceiving me as a curse. 

Well, I didn't blame him.

"Phew!" I sighed.

On the window of Becky, I could see her sleeping peacefully like an angel, and I immediately wiped the tears that escaped my eyes. 

"Be strong, Rory... You must be strong to embark on the journey ahead." My wolf growled from the inside. 

At that instant, hot beads of sweat began to stream down my face. Slowly, I reached into my cotton bag, and picked up the sheet of black paper that I had inscribed these words on;

'Till death wipe me off the surface of this planet, you shall remain my sister. Right now, I shall embark on a very long journey. Whether I return or not, I rejoice because you're a powerful wolf.'

As I read through those words the final time, hot tears ran down my spine. I suddenly realized that this journey was more creepy than death. I slowly threw that sheet of paper near her slippers, making sure that it'd be the first thing she'd see. 

I turned my back to leave, and as I disappeared into the darkness, I turned my back to look at her the final time, before heading towards the black river.

"Moon goddess, be with me in this quest." I mumbled these words of prayer in tears. 

My journey towards the black river was accompanied by fear and death. I've heard ancient myths about some of my kinds, who embarked on this journey, and never made it across the bridge.

While the bodies of some were brutally dismembered, the rest weren't seen till this day. There was also a myth about how the spirit that guided that river. 

It could be dated back to the time of my ancestors, that spirit was rejected after the Alpha got her pregnant. Since it was a taboo for an Alpha to have sexual contact with a hybrid, and in a bid to cover his secret, he lured her to the river. 

He instructed her to wear her wedding robe and a white veil, and he drowned pushed her into that river. Since then, her spirit has been lurking around that area, and claiming the lives of others.

Now, I could be the next. 

But, I wasn't scared of death. It was my only option of running away from this misery I call a life.

As I walked through the dark night, the cold breeze kept sending terrible shivers down my spine. 

Suddenly, I felt a strange presence around me. An otherworldly spirit was nearby. 

At that instant, my heart froze in shock and trepidation. I could hear the sound of a wave rotating around me. It was very intense. 

"Aurora Devine Wood!!!!" My name echoed throughout the darkness of the night, and I froze. 

Who could it be?

"Who're you?" I asked with a scared voice. 

"The journey ahead of you is a long one. I bid you farewell, as you depart from this city." It turned out to be Akira's voice. 

I looked back and could only see the darkness of the night.

"Phew!" I breathed with a relieved voice, as I crossed the bridge of moon city.

This was the beginning of my freedom.

With the darkness of the night, I set out to wander in uncertainty. The beginning of my identity had come, and I wasn't going to be defined by a common rejection. 

Suddenly, I felt the presence of some unfamiliar scents around me. Before I could say Jack, they forcefully grabbed me. 

Who were they?